Washington Nationals fans are in a familiar spot. They are forced to watch a bullpen that is among the league’s worst for yet another season. After Spring Training, there was some optimism that this rag tag group could overperform their name value, but that has not been the case. It feels like the Nats have to score at least 9 or 10 runs to have a chance with this pitching staff.
It is quite disappointing because I thought this new Nats front office would be able to find enough hidden gems to make
the bullpen better than it was last year. That has not happened, and it looks like Paul Toboni has missed on just about every bullpen move he has made.
That includes guys he did not hold on to. The fact that George Soriano fired two scoreless innings while the Nats relievers struggled to get a single out just added insult to injury. Soriano was a player the Nats picked up off waivers, but quickly DFA’d him again before trading him for Andre Granillo.
I will be honest, I liked that move at the time. Granillo was younger, had more options and had more success in 2025. However, Soriano clearly has better stuff as we saw last night. He showed off a mid to upper 90’s fastball as well as a quality changeup and slider. Meanwhile, Granillo got sent to the minors after his slider heavy mix did not play in the big leagues.
The inability to even build a mediocre bullpen is so frustrating and is something that has been a problem for years. 2024 was the only time in the last 8 years where it has even felt like the Nats have even had an average bullpen. A lot of young Nats fans can’t even remember the last time the team had a bullpen that was actually good.
Even when the Nats were good in the 2010’s, the bullpen was often the Achilles Heel. When the Nats won the World Series in 2019, it was one of the worst units in the league. The only reason the Nats were able to win it all is due to the contributions of starters out of the bullpen.
I just yearn for one Nats bullpen that has quality depth. Right now, the Nats don’t seem to have anyone who belongs in high leverage. Clayton Beeter is probably the closest thing we have, but his control issues make him pretty unreliable.
Even the guys who showed some promise last year are just falling on their face. Guys like PJ Poulin and Cole Henry have not impressed me so far. Even though Henry’s ERA is low, that number is deceiving. He has been unable to get any shutdown innings in extra innings and has not been able to strand the runners he is asked to strand.
Poulin has also been much shakier this year. His walk problem is real, and so is his home run problem. Those two issues have been prevalent in the Nats bullpen this year. It feels like they are walking the lead off man every inning, getting an out on hard contact and then allowing a back breaking homer.
It is just totally predictable and very frustrating. The offense is doing more than enough to win these games, but they have to get to double digits, or else this bullpen will ruin the fun. Paul Toboni needs to admit these guys are not working out and try as many guys as possible. Whether that is waiver claims, free agents, calling guys up from the minors or whatever, moves need to be made.
Right now, this bullpen is absolutely embarrassing. With the lack of overall talent, it will be a problem the whole year. However, the Nats need to throw as many options at the wall and hope a couple of them stick. It sucks we are in this position yet again. Paul Toboni has made some nice moves on the offensive side of the ball and a couple nice pickups in the rotation, but none of his bullpen moves have worked.
